Furniture and fixtures for use by babies and small children often presents a problem for parents with limited living space. For this reason it is desirable that such furniture serve more than one purpose. A bedside co-sleeper is very useful for an infant or very young child as it prevents a parent from having to get out of bed to deal with a child requiring minor attention or comforting. If the co-sleeper can then be put to other uses, the parents will save both space and the cost of other furniture. Various examples of such multi-purpose children's furniture have been patented and sold.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,709, issued to Cheng teaches a folding combination playpen and baby bed having an elevated floorboard. U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,470, issued to Shamie discloses a combination foldable playpen and dressing/changing table. U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,336 issued to Mariol adds an upper level to a playpen to provide a bassinet. The short legs of the upper level are inserted into openings in the top of the vertical supports of the playpen. U.S. Pat. No. 2,632,186, issued to Berk et al. discloses a portable combination crib and playpen. U.S. Pat. No. 2,691,176 issued to Saldana teaches a unit designed for home and travel that may be used as a support for a playpen, bassinet or baby chair.
Beside cribs that attached to the parents' bed were known at the turn of the century (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,548,005; 620,069; 1,138,451; 1,283,169; 1,267,244) but fell out of favor for many years. Recently there has been a resurgence in the practice of having babies adjacent the parents' bed. Such bed-side devices are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,435 to Griffin et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,561 to Tharalson et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,655 to Van Winkle et al.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a bedside co-sleeper that can be adapted for use as a changing table. It is a further objective of the invention to provide a stand-alone unit that is inexpensive, compact and portable. It is still a further objective of the present invention that the unit be simple to erect and collapsible for transport and storage. Finally, it is an objective of the invention that the co-sleeper design consider and address all possible safety considerations related to its use. Other features and advantages of the invention will be seen from the following description and drawings. The present invention addresses many of the deficiencies of prior art convertible sleeping unit inventions and satisfies all of the objectives described above.